Golf bag stand



p 14, 1965 L. A. LABE 3,206,149

GOLF BAG STAND Filed Feb. 18, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. I Louis A. Lube ATTORNEYS L. A. LABE GOLF BAG STAND Sept. 14, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 18, 1963 I I g I 5 25a 'II///I)IIIA I I g 0 7 INVENTOR. Louis A. L ab e BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,206,149 GOLF BAG STAND Louis A. Labe, 3076 Magnolia St., Denver, Colo. Filed Feb. 18, 1963, Ser. No. 259,172 4 Claims. (Cl. 248-96) This invention relates to supports for golf bags and more particularly to a foldable support or stand for supporting a golf bag in an essentially upright position when not being carried by the user.

In golfing, where the player carries his own bag, it is not always desirable to lay the golf bags on the ground while the player is awaiting a shot or making a shot or the like. This is particularly true where the golf course is wet, since this obviously gets the bag and the clubs wet. As is normal on most golf courses, there is only on the very rarest of occasions a support to hold a golf bag off the ground where the player is making a shot. Also, players lay their bag down and lean over to pick up the bag an incalculable number of times. While motorized carts and two-wheeled golf bag carts are used to a considerable extent throughout the world, by far the greatest segment of the golfing public carries its own bag.

According to the present invention, I have provided a very lightweight folding stand which may be attached to a golf bag for supporting a golf bag on a course or for storage in substantially upright, in convenient position for retrieving a golf club or placing a golf club in the bag and for picking up the bag. The stand according to the invention may be temporarily attached to a bag or may be permanently installed depending upon the desires of the user. The stand provides two legs so that when in extended position it provides a tripod effect in cooperation with the golf bag for sturdy support in its upright position. The legs are pivotally mounted so that they may pivot laterally of the longitudinal axis of the bag for supporting the bag on a slope in a stable position.

Included among the objects and advantages of the present invention is a golf bag support which includes a pair of legs arranged to lie closely along the exterior of the bag and extendible to form in cooperation with the golf bag a tripod-type support maintaining the bag in a generally upright position for easy removal or replacement of golf clubs in the bag, for easy accessibility of the auxiliary pockets on the exterior of the bag and for essentially effortless retrieval of the bag for further carrying. The support of the invention is provided with a pivot arrangement for turning the legs at an angle to the bag for supporting the same on a slope. The device provides a light, economical, sturdy support for a bag on the level, on slopes, or on hard and soft surfaces.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention may be readily ascertained by referring to the following description and appended illustrations in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a golf bag utilizing the support of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a split, enlarged detail of the support of the golf bag according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the support of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail of the bag attachment means of the support of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a front elevation of the detailed view of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the bag clamp of FIG. 5 taken along the line 7-7; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged detail of a thumb screw for securing the clamp of the support of the invention to a golf bag.

In one form of the device as shown in the drawings, a

golf bag 10 having a plurality of golf clubs, shown in general by numeral 11, is supported in a generally upright position by means of a support according to the invention, which includes a pair of legs 12 and 13 secured to the bag by means of a clamp plate assembly 14. As shown in FIG. 1, the particular golf bag has a sloped opening, in relation to the longitudinal axis of the bag, and the plate 14 is secured to the edge of the opening. The legs are biased to the plate so they extend downwardly along the longitudinal axis of the bag, explained in more detail below.

In FIGS. 3 and 4 details of the legs are shown, wherein the legs 12 and 13 are pivotally secured to a bracket 17 by means of a roll pin rivet or equivalent 16. The bracket 17, FIGS. 4 and 5, is secured by means of a bolt, screw or rivet to the plate 14. The bracket is thus pivotal in relation to the plate. The bracket 17, being pivotal, is held in position by a short pin and hole arrangement. A series of apertures 20, 21 and 22 are formed in plate 14 spaced below the screw 18 and in position to mate with a pin 24 secured to the bracket 17. Tilting the bracket and pivoting it about the screw 18 permits the pin 24 to drop into one of the holes 20, 21 and 22 to provide a stable angle relation between the legs and the plate 14.

The plate 14 is provided with a pair of hook-like members 25 and 26 which are formed with a groove 25a and 26a, respectively, to provide strength. On the inside of the plate 14 there is provided a second plate 30 which is reciprocably secured to the plate 14 by means of thumb screws 31 which are threaded through apertures in plate 14. The thumb screws 31 are rotatably secured to the plate 30. The plate 36 is covered with a friction material 33 which may be rubber, roughened or foamed plastic, knurled metal, paint (non-skid) or the like, to provide friction holding of a bag on which the device is attached.

The legs 12 and 13 may be tubular or any other desired shape and of aluminum or other light material which has suficient strength to support a bag in an essentially upright position. The upper ends of the legs 12 and 13 are flattened on their inside surfaces 13a, FIG. 5, which seats against the lower portion of the bracket 17 and provides a stop for the legs to prevent them from being extended too far.

The lower ends of the legs 12 and 13 may be provided with covers or plugs for resting on the ground or may be provided with sharpened members for penetrating the ground, giving more secure support for the golf bag on soft ground. The legs are held apart by means of a cross rod 15 which extends through apertures in the legs 12 and 13 and each end of the cros bar is secured by a lock cap 40, similar holding device, spot welded, or otherwise held in the legs. An inner portion of the bar 15 may be flattened at 41 adjacent the legs to prevent the legs from moving inwardly on the cross rod when a cap or other fastener is used, while with spot welding such flattening may not be needed for securing the legs in position.

In use, a detachable device, according to the invention, is attached to a golf bag by pressing the hooks over the upper edge of the golf bag so that the hooks rest on the bag and then turning the thumb screws clockwise to move the plate 30 and its friction hacking into contact with the bag. This clamps the bag edge between the hooks and the plate 343. The legs and bag combined form a tripodtype support. Where the golf bag has a sloping upper top, the legs may be turned at an angle thereto so that they will extend generally along the longitudinal axis of the bag, shown in FIG. 1; where the top is square, the plate will be maintained square. In both cases the pin 24 registered in one of the apertures in the plate holds the legs in predetermined position on the plate.

The device as shown is a detachable support for a golf bag; however, it is readily apparent that the golf bag may be provided with a plate such as 14 physically attached to the bag and the legs simply attached or detached by means of a thumb screw in place of the screw 18 hold ing the bracket 17 to the plate. In this instance, the bracket 17 may be pivotal so as to provide the angle displacement of the legs in relation to the longitudinal axis of the golf bag for supporting the same. Since the legs are arranged to be moved from an inoperative to an operative position, the roll pin or rivet 16 should be relatively tight so that the legs will stay in position, and particularly against the bag when not in use so as to not interfere with the carrying of the bag by the use-r. Additionally, when the legs are pulled out ready for standing the bag they should stay extended during the handling of the bag preparatory to the setting of the bag in an upright position. In making the device of the invention, it is highly desirable to keep it as light as possible so as not to add any substantial amount of weight to the golf bag, which in most cases is heavy enough without appendages. Thus, lightweight aluminum is highly desirable in construction of the metal parts of thedevice to maintain the weight to a minimum. In following through with lightness, the plate 14 when made of aluminum may need reinforcing as by forming a groove in the hooks. This provides sufiicient strength so that they will not break or bend when the plate 30 is pulled against the bag and against the hooks on the inside of the bag.

While the invention has been described in relation to particular devices, there is no intent to limit the spirit or the scope of the invention to precise details so set forth except as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A supporting attachment in combination with a golf bag comprising a fiat body arranged for gripping connection with a top wall portion of said golf bag so as to maintain said body substantially parallel to said top wall portion, a leg support member disposed on said body and pivotal in a plane parallel to said body, and arranged to be positioned along the longitudinal axis of the bag means arranged to maintain said leg support member at a predetermined angle on said fiat body, and a pair of leg members pivotally carried by said leg support member and aligned with the longitudinal axis of said bag, said legs adapted to swing from an inactive position adjacent to and substantially parallel to the adjoining wall of said bag to an angle thereto in a bag supporting position in which the ends of the legs are substantially spaced from said bag in tripod position.

2. A supporting attachment in combination with a golf bag comprising a flat body having extension means for gripping connection with a top wall portion of said golf bag so as to maintain said body substantially parallel to said top wall portion, a leg support member disposed on said body and pivotal in a plane parallel to said body, and arranged to be positioned along the longitudinal axis of the bag, means inclusive of a pin on said leg support member and a plurality of mating holes in said flat body for maintaining said leg support member at a predetermined angle on said flat body, and a pair of leg members pivotally carried by said leg support member and joined for conjoint swinging movement and adapted to swing from an inactive position adjacent to and substantially parallel to the adjoining wall of said bag to an angle thereto in a bag supporting position in which the ends of the legs are substantially spaced from said bag in tripod position.

' 3. A supporting attachment in combination with a 7 golf bag comprising a flat body having extension means for gripping connection With'a top wall portion of said golf bag so as to maintain said body substantially parallel to said top wall portion, a friction plate disposed between said body and said extension means including at least one thumb screw for removably securing the top edge of the bag between said extension means and said friction plate, a leg support member disposed on said plate and pivotal in a plane parallel to said plate, said plate, means inclusive. of a pin depending from said leg support member and three mating holes in said plate spaced apart and each cooperative with said pin for maintaining said leg support member at a predetermined angle on said plate, a pair of leg members pivotally mounted on said leg support member and adapted to swing from an inactive position adjacent to and substantially parallel to the adjoining wall of said bag to an angle thereto in a bag supporting posi- 7 tion in which the ends of the legs are substantially spaced from the bag in tripod position, and means for stopping extending movement of said leg members.

4. The attachment as defined in claim 1 in which the distance from the pivotal axis to the bottom of said bag is greater than the distance from said axis to the outer end of the leg members.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS CLAUDE A, LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SUPPORTING ATTACHMENT IN COMBINATION WITH A GOLF BAG COMPRISING A FLAT BODY ARRANGED FOR GRIPPING CONNECTION WITH A TOP WALL PORTION OF SAID GOLF BAG SO AS TO MAINTAIN SAID BODY SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID TOP WALL PORTION, A LEG SUPPORT MEMBER DISPOSED ON SAID BODY AND PIVOTAL IN A PLANE PARALLEL TO SAID BODY, AND ARRANGED TO BE POSITIONED ALONG THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE BAG MEANS ARRANGED TO MAINTAIN SAID LEG SUPPORT MEMBER AT A PREDETERMINED ANGLE ON SAID FLAT BODY, AND A PAIR OF LEG MEMBERS PIVOTALLY CARRIED BY SAID LEG SUPPORT MEMBER AND ALIGNED WITH THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID BAG, SAID LEGS ADAPTED TO SWING FROM AN INACTIVE POSITION ADJACENT TO AND SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE ADJOINING WALL OF SAID BAG TO AN ANGLE THERETO IN A BAG SUPPORTING POSITION IN WHICH THE ENDS OF THE LEGS ARE SUBSTANTIALLY SPACED FROM SAID BAG IN TRIPOD POSITION. 